Our Reception classes were so excited to welcome Trent Hill to school on Tuesday to celebrate Reconciliation Week. Trent loves coming to our beautiful grounds and described how the Kaurna land that we learn on used to be covered in metre high reeds, grass and many more River Red gum trees thousands of years ago.
He also told us a special Dreaming story of ‘How the Koala lost its tail’. We were sad to hear that the koala had been selfish, lazy and greedy, stealing and hiding water just for himself. The other animals were so upset that they made a fire at the base of the koala’s tree to release the water which burnt off the koala’s tail! That is also why the koala needs to eat gum leaves to drink.
Aboriginal Dreaming stories are important for teaching rules for living and the importance of caring for the environment. We were so amazed to watch Trent make a small fire in front of our lizard just by rubbing sticks together! Did you know that fire has been used for thousands of years for warmth, cooking, making bush medicine, canoes and tools, for signalling and helping the land to regenerate?!
We also loved seeing Trent’s artefacts and listening to him play animal sounds on his didgeridoo. Trent is such a wonderful teacher of his culture and such a fun and friendly person. We hope he can come back to visit us again sometime soon.
